Thanks, Kate. A couple of caveats are in order. First, this was the UK, not the USA. I believe that the results would be the same, but not so marked.

The presentation was introduced by Philip Zimardo, himself a questionable authority figure. A high school classmate of Stanley Milgram, Zimbardo once ran a mock prison in the basement of the Berkeley psychology building. His graduate assistant - with whom he was sleeping - had to remind him that he really was not a warden. On her insistence, he halted the experiment. (She went on to get a doctorate of her own, but does not mention him in her CV.)

On the upside, uniforms carry several levels of meaning, not the least of which the announcement that the wearer's special status may include a willingness to sacrifice (or at least endanger) their life to save yours.

The "experiment" was very informal. I believe that our current standards of human factors in experiments would not allow it for an academic researcher.

Finally, we have been strongly conditioned by the uniform. The same experiment run, say in 1814 would not have worked. No one would have recognized the uniform.

All of that being as it may, it is interesting to consider and reflect upon.